The present disclosure relates to a display device of a parallax barrier type which enables stereoscopic display, a barrier device to be used for such a display device, and a method of manufacturing the barrier device.
In recent years, display devices for realizing stereoscopic display have been attracting interest. The stereoscopic display is performed by displaying parallax images (or different perspective images) for right and left eyes. When seeing these images with the corresponding eyes, the viewer recognizes the images as a stereoscopic image having a depth. Moreover, another type of display devices which present the viewer with a more natural three-dimensional image by displaying more than two parallax images has been developed.
Such display devices are classified into two types: one requires dedicated glasses, and the other does not require the dedicated glasses. Since wearing dedicated glasses may be troublesome for the viewer, the glasses-free type is preferable. Examples of a technique for realizing glasses-free display devices include the lenticular lens technique and the parallax barrier technique. In these techniques, multiple parallax images (perspective images) are displayed at the same time, thereby presenting the viewer with an image that is changed depending on a relative distance (or angle) between the display device and the eye point of the viewer. An example of display devices of a parallax barrier type is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H03-119889, and this display device is equipped with a liquid crystal element as a barrier.
When a liquid crystal element is applied to a display device, it is desirable that liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal element be oriented readily in a desired direction. Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. 2011-22491 and 2008-216423 disclose examples of such a liquid crystal display device. These display devices are provided with openings or projections in pixel electrodes in order to orient liquid crystal molecules readily.